Essential Cases: Land Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in JA Pye (Oxford) Ltd v Graham [2002] UKHL 30, House of Lords. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Aruna Nair.
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JA Pye (Oxford) Ltd v Graham [2002] UKHL 30, House of Lords
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JA Pye (Oxford) Ltd v Graham [2002] UKHL 30, House of Lords
Essential Cases: Land Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in JA Pye (Oxford) Ltd v Graham [2002] UKHL 30, House of Lords. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Aruna Nair.
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10. Constructive trusts
This chapter turns to constructive trusts, the second main category in informal trusts. At its simplest, the term ‘constructive trust’ describes the circumstances in which property is subjected to a trust by operation of law. Unlike an expressly declared trust, a constructive trust does not come into being solely in consequence of the express intention of a settlor. Unlike automatic resulting trusts, it does not fill gaps in beneficial ownership. Like presumed resulting trusts, intention can form an important element in its genesis. As such, a constructive trust is a trust which the law imposes on the trustee by reason of their unconscionable conduct.
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Wilkinson v Downton [1897] QB 57
Essential Cases: Tort Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Wilkinson v Downton [1897] QB 57. The document also included supporting commentary from author Craig Purshouse.
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Wilkinson v Downton [1897] QB 57
Essential Cases: Tort Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Wilkinson v Downton [1897] QB 57. The document also included supporting commentary from author Craig Purshouse.
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3. Trusts and powers and the three certainties
Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter on trusts and powers discusses the following: the different types of trust and powers; power (mere or bare or personal); fiduciary power; trust power (trust in default of appointment); discretionary trust (sometimes called a trust power or power in the form of a trust); the certainty of intention, certainty of subject matter, and certainty of objects; administrative unworkability; certainty of objects in conditional gifts; and the effects of absence of the three certainties.
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6. Criminal Capacity, Mens Rea, and Fault
This chapter deals first with another fundamental requirement of a crime: criminal capacity. It is a precondition of criminal liability that the defendant is a person with sufficient capacity to be held responsible. This leads to an examination of infancy and insanity as barriers to criminal responsibility, and then to a consideration of special factors affecting corporate criminal liability. Second, this chapter considers fault requirements as an element of criminal offences. It explores some of the reasons for and against the criminal law requiring proof of fault in any form. It also considers principal varieties of fault requirement in the criminal law, such as intention and recklessness.
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3. The three certainties
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the certainties that must be satisfied by trusts: intention, subject matter, and objects. Trustees must know what their obligations are under the trust, and satisfying these certainties ensures that, if necessary, the court itself will be able to administer the trust. Certainty of intention is a question of fact and the courts will consider the whole context of the case. Certainty of subject matter requires certainty as to what property is held on trust and the beneficial interests involved. Certainty of objects relates to who are the beneficiaries of a trust. Every trust—with the exception of charitable trusts—must satisfy the certainty of objects requirement.
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8. Secret trusts
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses secret trusts. Secret trusts allow property to be left to someone in a will without explicitly naming that person. This is achieved by a bequest to a person who has previously promised to hold that property as trustee for the intended recipient. The anonymity provided by a secret trust is important, as all wills are public documents and therefore open to scrutiny. Secret trusts can be either fully secret or half secret. To establish a valid secret trust there must be: an intention to create a trust; communication of that intention; and acceptance of the trust obligation.
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13. Implication
This chapter examines whether a term should be imported into the contract, although it was never expressed in words; should the term be implied? A term can be implied into a particular contract because it is necessary to give effect to the parties’ intentions. This is known as ‘implication in fact’. Whether a term should be implied ‘in fact’ has traditionally depended upon whether the term was so obvious to both parties that it went without saying, or whether the term was necessary to give ‘business efficacy’ to the contract. A term might be implied ‘in law’ into all contracts of a particular type. Such terms might be implied as a result of statute or judicial decisions. Where a judge decides that a term should be implied ‘in law’, courts can take into account policy reasons when deciding whether an implied term is necessary for the type of contract at issue.
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2. Fundamental Principles of Criminal Liability—Actus Reus and Mens Rea
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, suggested answers, author commentary, and advice on study skills. This chapter presents sample exam questions on the elements of crime and suggested answers. The traditional starting point for the study of criminal law is the constituents of a criminal offence. These are the fundamental principles of criminal liability: actus reus (often referred to as the prohibited conduct, but more accurately described as the external elements of the offence) and mens rea (often referred to as the mental element, but more accurately described as the fault element). They include the distinction between acts and omissions, causation, and the different levels of fault (intention, recklessness and negligence).
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5. Fault
This chapter considers the different types of fault required by criminal law. It examines the definitions and/or applications of the following concepts: intention, recklessness, malice, knowledge, and negligence.
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3. Mens Rea: The Mental Element
Mens rea is the legal term used to describe the element of a criminal offence that relates to the defendant’s mental state. Different crimes have different mentes reae: some require intention, others recklessness, negligence, or knowledge. Some crimes do not require proof of any mental state of the defendant. It has often been suggested that mens rea plays the crucial role of ensuring that only blameworthy defendants are punished for their crimes; however, a defendant’s blameworthiness or state of mind is only part of the picture. This chapter considers the following concepts that are used throughout criminal law: (a) intention; (b) recklessness; (c) negligence; and (d) knowledge.
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3. Mens Rea: The Mental Element
Mens rea is the legal term used to describe the element of a criminal offence that relates to the defendant’s mental state. Different crimes have different mentes reae: some require intention, others recklessness, negligence, or knowledge. Some crimes do not require proof of any mental state of the defendant. It has often been suggested that mens rea plays the crucial role of ensuring that only blameworthy defendants are punished for their crimes; however, a defendant’s blameworthiness or state of mind is only part of the picture. This chapter considers the following concepts that are used throughout criminal law: (a) intention; (b) recklessness; (c) negligence; and (d) knowledge.
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3. Mens rea
Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. This chapter discusses the mens rea elements of a criminal offence. There are two types of intention: direct and oblique. A person directly intends a consequence that he desires. Where he instead merely appreciates that it is virtually certain to occur, a jury may find he intended the consequence. This is oblique intent. Subjective recklessness requires two questions to be asked: (a) did D foresee the possibility of the consequence occurring; and (b) was it unreasonable to take the risk? The actus reus and mens rea must coincide in time for the defendant to be guilty. The continuing act or ‘single transaction’ theories might be employed to establish coincidence.
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4. Certainty and the Intention to Enter a Legal Relationship
This chapter investigates the basic law on the certainty and intention requirements in the creation of an agreement. To be legally enforceable as a contract, the agreement must be sufficiently certain and show an intention to enter a legal relationship. Agreements can be uncertain because they are vague, or because they are incomplete. This can indicate there was no intention to enter a legal relationship. The courts must not rewrite the agreement; they must simply interpret it. If an agreement is incomplete, the courts may decide that the missing terms are implied, and this is more likely if there has been performance. A gap in an incomplete agreement can be filled if the parties have provided a mechanism for doing so, or if the terms can be construed so as to do so. The chapter then differentiates between an agreement to negotiate (a lock-in agreement) and agreements not to negotiate with other parties (lock-out agreements). Agreements between businesses are presumed to be made with the intention to be legally binding, but the facts, the interpretation of the terms, or the surrounding circumstances could mean there was no such intention.
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3. Mens rea
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter reviews the mens rea elements of criminal offence. Mens rea means guilty mind, but the term is better thought of as the fault element of the offence. The role of mens rea is to attribute fault or blameworthiness (also called culpability) to the actus reus. The main types of mens rea are intention, recklessness, and negligence. Issues may arise when the mens rea and actus reus do not coincide in time. The doctrine of transferred malice allows mens rea to be transferred from the intended victim to the unintended victim, in certain situations.
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12. Murder
Murder is generally regarded as the most serious crime (apart perhaps from treason) in England and Wales, yet it has not been defined by statute. This chapter discusses the offence of murder, who can commit murder, where it can be committed, who can be the victim, and whether killing a foetus/child in the womb or in the process of leaving the womb is murder. It also examines whether a dead person is capable of being murdered, unlawful killing as an important element of murder, the mens rea of murder or ‘malice aforethought’, constructive malice, the sentence for murder, and the Law Commission’s proposed reforms for the offence of murder.
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1. Introduction: The Shape of Tort Law Today
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter introduces the reader to tort law, with emphasis on its principles of liability and the approach taken to the interaction between parties. It first maps the various types of torts, including torts of strict liability and torts requiring intention, and the nature of the ‘wrongs’ with which they are concerned, in terms of protected interests, relevant ‘conduct’, and whether the tort requires ‘actual’ or ‘material’ damage. The chapter concludes by discussing two current challenges to the law of tort: ‘compensation culture’ and the costs of tort, and the influence of the Human Rights Act 1998.
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8. Resulting Trusts
This chapter examines the nature of the resulting trust. It explains that a trust is called resulting when the beneficial interest in the property returns to the person who transferred the property in the first place. It discusses the theoretical foundation of the resulting trust and its categories, which include presumed and automatic resulting trusts. This chapter examines the consequences of a total or partial failure of express trust and the Quistclose trust which arises where property is transferred for a purpose which has failed, and suggests that there is no need to expand the resulting trust to encompass claims in unjust enrichment and following the rescission of a contract.
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